Deadline have broken the news that Katherine Waterston (Steve Jobs, Inherent Vice) has landed the lead role in Ridley Scott's latest entry into the Alien series, titled Alien: Covenant. Usually I'm not one for silly subtitles in lieu of numbers, but in this instance Covenant is the name of the main ship in the film, so that's fair enough. Waterston will be playing a character named Daniels, but apart from that there are no further details as to the role. If Waterston is in the lead, it does mean that we are unlikely to spend any great amount of time with Prometheus' Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace), an annoying fact considering audiences were expected to invest so much in her character in that prequel. If Alien: Covenant is acting as connective tissue between Prometheus and the original Alien films, then having Rapace back would surely go some way to helping that link. At the very least we know we'll be getting Michael Fassbender back as android David - a performance that will be a very welcome return. According to the plot details revealed so far, Alien: Covenant will revolve around "the crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet, who discover what they believe is an uncharted paradise but is, in fact, a dark, dangerous world, the only inhabitant of which is David, the synthetic and survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition." It's good to see this film picking up steam. I reckon that Scott has most likely learned a few new lessons after the resounding success that was The Martian, and likewise moved on from some of the mistakes involved in the mediocre goings-on of Prometheus. Alien: Covenant will be released on 6 October 2017. Katherine Waterston can next be seen in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which is due out on 18 November 2016.